Poll Gives Thumbs Up to Pols’ Storm Response

By  AVRIL REGIS and SIGOURNEY SEALEY

Although New Yorkers thought their own elected officials did a good job responding to Superstorm Sandy they think New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie did a better job, according to a Quinnipiac University poll released Tuesday.

Almost 90 percent of New York City voters thought the New Jersey governor’s response was “excellent” or “good”.

Quinnipiac surveyed 1,165 New York City voters from November 14 to November 18.  The poll has a margin of error of  plus or minus 2.9 percentage points.

Other high score receivers included New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo and Mayor Michael Bloomberg as well as President Barrack Obama.

“That love fest between New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie and President Barack Obama seems to have moved voters especially,” said Maurice Carroll, director of the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute in a statement. “…it seems a hug or two never hurts.”

Christie claimed victory with 89 percent of the votes, free run 5.0 Cuomo came in second with 85 percent, Obama got 84 percent and in last place was New York’s own Mayor Bloomberg with 56 percent.

According to the poll Mayor Bloomberg’s response to the hurricane helped boost his overall approval ratings from 34 percent to 56 percent, his highest in two years.

In contrast New Yorkers gave poor marks to the utility companies after the storm. It showed that 58 percent of voters said the utility companies’ response was “not so good” or “poor”. But 37 percent of the university’s voters thought the response of the utility companies was “excellent” or “good.”

Moreover 75 percent of the  voters thought the MTA did an “excellent” or “good” job dealing with the hurricane.

Another post-Sandy issue mentioned in the poll was the city’s odd-even gas rationing system. Voters gave the system very high marks, 85 percent of the voter thought the gas rationing system worked giving it a “excellent” or “good.”